DAIMLER TECHNICITY 02-2012 English by Mercedes-Benz next

ISSUE 02 2012

MAN IS THE MEASURE Human requirements and demands are at the core of Daimler’s mobility research.

Sharing society From everyday commodities to mobility solutions — sharing secures our future.

INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY MOBILITY

TecHnicity <Eng.> n; -ies (abbr. T) 1. Noun composed of the words q tech•nol•o•gy (1) and q ci•ty (2) 2. The name of a magazine that describes the use of (1) and particularly of mobility in urban environments and metropolitan areas worldwide 3. <Eng.> for the German q Tech•ni•zi•tät (3) 4. The technical nature of an q in•no•va•ti•on (4)

Man Is the Measure Mobility research at Mercedes-Benz will continue to focus on peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s safety and well-being. People are the key factor when it comes to developing and evaluating new technologies such as innovative car seats. In the new Mercedes-Benz SL seats, for example, the sine spring core principle is combined with a rubberized matting cover and a layer of foam to ensure maximum occupant comfort.

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the focus is on people

The provision of mobility services has been the core of our business model for more than 125 years. And as the inventor of the automobile, we feel more obliged than any other company to perform this task in a holistic and systematic way. Today we are on the brink of the second invention of the automobile — a development that is being triggered by the technological potential of the digital world and the need for alternative, emission-free drive concepts. When we think about the vehicles and the mobility of the future, we definitely need to have some basic knowledge about human beings’ needs in the area of mobility. In this issue you can find out how our researchers and developers scientifically and systematically find out exactly what our customers need. The varying requirements of people in the different regions and cultures of the world are a factor that we are taking into account even more rigorously than ever before. And in addition to focusing intensely on the growth regions, we are also increasing our involvement in the innovation centers of the world. In this issue you can also read fascinating reports about these topics. The moovel mobility platform, which we report on in this issue, reveals the great potential associated with networked mobility services in urban regions. moovel brings together the services of a broad variety of mobility providers and presents appropriate travel options via an app and a mobile website — transparently and across all suppliers. It combines all of the means of transport virtually in one app. No matter when you’re traveling and where you’re headed, with moovel you’ll reach your destination quickly and efficiently. As you can see, in the future, mobility will offer even more facets and possibilities than it does today. We will not only drive these developments with passion and a pioneering spirit but also play an active part in shaping the mobility of the future. Stay mobile with us, and find out more about these themes and many others in this issue of TECHNICITY. Pleasant reading! Sincerely yours, Thomas Weber Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development

INDEX Man Is the Measure 12 Scientific research concerning customer needs is the foundation of innovative automotive development.

Spectrum 18

Sharing Society 24 The society of the future will be based on intelligent sharing and flexible, dynamic relationships.

Signs of mobility 30 The perception of mobility in public spaces is based on iconic sign systems and design idioms.

Metropolis 38

The S達o Paulo innovation region 40 This Brazilian megacity is facing huge challenges in the areas of urban planning and transportation planning.

Digital 50 IMprint and contact 50 Projector 51

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12 TOPIC AREAS AND MEASUREMENT METHODS OF DAIMLER’S MOBILITY RESEARCH: 01 Ergonomics: • Precise body measurements • Systematic motion capture

02 Physiological safety: Biochemical measurements of stress hormones (cortisol)

03 Posture comfort: Use of RAMSIS — a computer-assisted occupant simulation system — in virtual tests, e.g. in targeted studies of key markets such as Europe, North America, and China.

BRAIN RESEARCH Daimler researchers use EEG (electroencephalography) equipment to record test subjects’ brainwaves during simulated driving situations. This method enables the researchers to analyze drivers’ unconscious behavioral patterns. The insights gained can be used to further enhance driver assistance systems.

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EMOTION RESEARCH In the first-ever scientific assessment of driving pleasure, experts from Technische Universität München, the Fraunhofer Institute, and the Mercedes-Benz Customer Research unit recorded facial expressions, which indicate the degree of driving pleasure.

04 Emotional state: This is determined by analyzing the test subject’s voice and recording his or her facial expressions during a trip (the system scans 140 points on the driver’s face)

05 Drive quality: Researchers conduct in-depth interviews and psychological tests to determine the user experience

06 Acceptance assessment: Driver area, vehicle interior, new materials and technologies

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07 Acoustics: Psychoacoustics shows how a vehicle is perceived acoustically

08 Level of exhaustion: An electroencephalogram (EEG) measures brainwaves

09 Seat and suspension comfort: Electromyography (EMG) is used to neurologically determine muscle tension

10 Visibility: Analysis of visibility within a vehicle 11 Test driving: Researchers determine the quality of driving behavior in specific situations

ERGONOMICS RESEARCH With its 200-degree projection surface, Daimler’s modular ergonomics test rig (MEPS) is an important tool for clarifying ergonomic issues in relation to new vehicle interiors. The issues are addressed under realistic conditions and at an early stage of development.

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Man Is the Measure Text RĂźdiger ABELE

PHOTOGRAPHY Rafael KROETZ

Mobility is very much valued by people around the world. It is part of the way they structure their lives and it is associated with concepts such as freedom and independence. Vehicles provide one means of mobility. In fact, in many countries, cars are the number one way of getting around. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s therefore not surprising that the vehicles of tomorrow are designed with the people who drive them in mind.

Keywords

R esea rch Dev elopment Customer r esea rch Ergonomics Inter ior concepts

hether they’re small or big, cars or commercial vehicles, equipped with combustion engines or electric drive systems, are privately owned or part of a larger mobility concept — vehicles can help people move from one place to another. In fact, the possible modes of transport offered by automobiles have never been as varied as they are today. Mobility helps people go places in life. That explains why the automobile is one of the most successful industrial products in history and a central component of the everyday lives of individuals on all continents. Daimler is aware of this and takes the demands, wishes, and needs of the entire global population into account when developing new vehicles. At the same time, the company also makes adjustments that take regional differences into account. Daimler knows more about mobility than practically any other company. It has been meeting people’s mobility requirements without interruption since the invention of the automobile in 1886 — and has done so with technologies whose scope and effectiveness have been virtually unparalleled. Over the years, the Group has occasionally ventured into sectors that it no longer operates in. However, the main focus has always been, and continues to be, mobility. This will remain the case in the future as well. “We’re about to witness the reinvention of the automobile,” says Daimler Chairman Dr. Dieter Zetsche referring to new drive system concepts. As Zetsche also points out, the company is more than prepared to address the associated challenges. This focus on human mobility has a simple yet also complex foundation: people themselves. All activities in Daimler’s research and development departments are geared toward the needs of customers. The aim is to continue to manufacture the best products for them in the future. Achieving this goal involves much more than invention. “Innovation management is the top priority,” says Prof. Thomas Weber, member of the Daimler Board of Management with responsibility for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. “That’s because our job is to quickly come up with precise answers to a whole range of questions regarding the future of automobile mobility, and thus of our products as well.” Daimler operates in many locations around the world in order to gain and consolidate knowledge. This international scope is intentional because it allows the Group to effectively address a huge range of business aspects. Consider the following two examples: Daim-

ler’s own research center in Palo Alto, California, is situated in the world-famous Silicon Valley. It’s therefore very close to the latest technology and entertainment developments, which can be implemented on a global scale. In addition, Daimler operates a research facility in India that responds to key trends on the subcontinent and makes information on them available to all researchers and developers throughout the Group. Let’s now take a visit to the laboratory for anthropometric ergonomics in Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart, Germany. This lab is located in the direct vicinity of the Group’s largest passenger car plant and important research departments. A main focus here is ergonomics research. At the moment, a lab specialist is wearing a motion-capturing suit equipped with 17 sensors that register even the slightest movements in realtime. The specialist places himself next to the prototype of a new vehicle. At this point, the computer begins to take readings. The man takes a step toward the driver’s door, opens it, gets in behind the wheel, and closes the door. He then opens the door, climbs out, closes the door, and stands next to the vehicle again. All of this may look quite unspectacular, but it actually provides researchers with a lot of information. For example, how easy is it for the man to enter the vehicle? Does he consciously or subconsciously make some type of evasive move because a body strut was too close, for example? Changes need to be made to the production vehicle if such things are discovered — after all, drivers get in and out of their cars a lot. “Motion capturing is more precise than any film,” says ergonomics engineer Richard Sauerbier. “That’s because it supplies us not only with an animation but also with fully digitized motion data.” Researchers can precisely analyze this data on a computer. However, the analyses aren’t only done once. The test subjects are varied to include men and women, tall and short individuals, and light and heavy people. The only thing they have in common is that they must enter and exit the prototypes. The studies take several days, and in the end they only answer one question regarding a new vehicle.

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SIMULATION Located in the German city of Sindelfingen, the world’s most powerful driving simulator enables Daimler to almost perfectly simulate practically any driving situation. What’s more, all of the company’s vehicle models can be simulated. Thanks to this innovative device, researchers can virtually test drivers’ response times under extreme conditions without subjecting them to danger.

“These interior concept tasks have become much more important over the last few years, which is why it’s so essential to quickly incorporate innovations that improve the customer’s experience into our series vehicles,” says Dr. Klaus-Dieter Debschütz, who is responsible for Interior and Ergonomics, among other things, at Daimler Research. “In addition, new developments in areas like lighting and climate control technology are taking interior design to a completely new level,” the engineer adds. Sindelfingen is also the site for the Customer Research Center (CRC), whose name pretty much explains its mission, which is to involve customers in research studies. A whole range of methods are employed here to test new ideas and implement refinements with the help of the people who will be using the products. The list of testing and measuring techniques employed at the CRC is long when it comes to learning from people today in order to develop the automobiles of tomorrow. The facility measures heart rates, brainwaves, reactions, sensitivity to light, hormone levels, and skin temperature — practically nothing is left out. CRC psychologist Lars Galley uses a biosignal recorder about the size of a smartphone to monitor several physiological functions. Various types of sensors can be hooked up to the recorder; the sensors are also connected to test subjects. “After we set up the volunteer test subjects in this way, we send them on a test drive that’s designed to simulate specific situations. Afterward, we check the measurements for any unusual readings that might indicate heightened stress levels at certain spots along the route. We also look for low heart rates that point to a relaxed experience,” Galley explains. “Our customer research is seamless and focused on vehicle requirements. It covers everything from initial conceptual questions to the complete results,” says Dr. Goetz Renner, a psychologist who works at the CRC. “What we do is unique in the automotive industry.” The CRC covers the entire spectrum of Group vehicles, from two-seaters to semitrailers. Symbiotic cooperation makes it possible for the CRC — and other research facilities — to take on projects commissioned by any R&D department and ensure that the results are incorporated quickly and directly into new product designs. Basic knowledge of people’s attitudes and requirements in relation to mobility is constantly in demand here. The idea is to come up with innovative products that push back boundaries and offer completely new concepts. Researchers thus continually find themselves raising the bar; they stay in tune with the times — and sometimes even a step ahead. Muscle reactions of test subjects also provide important information that can help with the design of future vehicles. Depending on the questions he’s interested in, Galley looks at readings related to the corrugator supercilii or the zygomaticus major: The former muscle is responsible for frowning, the latter for a slight smile. Electrodes that monitor the muscles during the test drives can detect even slight changes in tension that might indicate subtle reactions to the driving situation and thus the handling of the vehicle itself. 14

Research and development engineers also conduct creative idea workshops in a part of the CRC facility. Each year, around 60 to 80 such workshops attract roughly 2,000 participants to the roughly 500-squaremeter-large “Innovation Shop.” The events produce a large number of ideas. Each workshop focuses on a specific innovation topic that is addressed with both customer requirements and acceptance aspects in mind. Some of the new ideas are abandoned; others embark upon the long process that will lead to series production. “Attention Assist” — the fatigue warning system from Mercedes-Benz that has been available in production vehicles for quite some time — was also continually refined in innovation workshops. One of the key questions engineers addressed here was whether or not customers would even accept a system that “evaluates” a person’s mental or physical state when he or she is behind the wheel. “Attention Assist marked the first time that a vehicle was able to give drivers feedback on their condition,” says Renner. “It was therefore crucial for us to know how people would feel about it, and whether similar vehicle feedback systems might be accepted as well.” One example of networked research is offered by the studies conducted on fatigue. The results of these studies were incorporated into the comprehensive TopFit Truck project that was presented to the public last year. In one case, the study examined how the quality of a trucker’s sleep influenced his or her driving style. It was the first such investigation to be conducted with the goal of improving truckers’ everyday lives and help them remain as physically fit as possible. Here, several changes were made to a heavy-duty truck. These included altering a cabin interior in several ways and the introduction of new cockpit functions, more sophisticated lighting, and climate control systems. The researchers aren’t limiting their horizons to trucks, however: some features could also be used in cars of the future.

MICROSCOPE Digital test persons Most vehicle development work is done using computers. However, because cars are developed for people, there has to be a way to get information about people into the computer. One method Daimler uses here involves the motion capture suits that record all the movements made by the person who wears them — in Daimler’s case individuals who sit in vehicles and operate them on the road. The suit has 17 sensors that register even the slightest movements and send the data involved to a recording device. The information is later analyzed and provides researchers with important knowledge about the way in which people react to different vehicle environments. Particularly helpful here is the fact that the individual phases of movement can also be depicted. In addition, all movements can be shown over and over as well again. This makes it easier to determine which details are relevant for future vehicles.

Stress TEST Electrodes on the test subject’s body enable Daimler researchers to measure stress indicators such as his or her heart rate and skin temperature during the drive. The data is stored by a biosignal recorder attached to the test driver’s belt.

12 Physiological safety: • A pupillographic test (PST) is carried out to measure unintentional eye movements • An electrocardiogram (ECG) measures the heart rate during the drive • Stress perception: Researchers measure skin temperature

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RAMSIS The computer-assisted occupant simulation system RAMSIS enables Daimler researchers to place models of people with different physiques in a virtual vehicle interior.

The tremendous collection of data related to human reactions and behavior in vehicles is routinely used to develop better products. Ergonomics engineer Bernd Brückner is a specialist for Daimler’s RAMSIS clan — a virtual family of nine adults and three children that exists only in a computer. RAMSIS is the German acronym for “computer supported anthropometric mathematical system for occupant simulations.” Says Brückner, “The differences between family members simulate the entire global population, so to speak.” There are six men, three women, and three children, each with a different build and height. All of them must fit perfectly into a new passenger car that can be sold in any market in the world. RAMSIS is very useful because it allows engineers to seat individual family members in a virtual vehicle and find out, for example, how comfortable their seats are, how easy it is for them to see displays and touch switches, and how the visibility changes depending on who’s in the car and where. The results are then used to develop or improve design concepts. The comfort typical of Daimler products is always a key consideration at the heart of the studies conducted and questions posed. An important issue is the suspension — a feature that is strongly associated with comfort. But that’s only one of many aspects addressed. Comfort is, naturally, also a safety issue. After all, those who are comfortable and relaxed are less likely to be involved in an accident. Conversely, comfort can be enhanced through reliability. If a vehicle functions perfectly in every situation, drivers will feel comfortable. Daimler researchers aren’t just involved with people directly. In addition, they also closely examine people’s lifestyles and habits in order to gain useful knowledge that will help to improve the vehicles and mobility systems of tomorrow. Sociologist Alexander Mankowsky is an expert on trends and future mobility. Very few questions faze him. What does he think about the fact that many young people in the world’s urban centers nowadays place less value on owning their own car? “We’re going to experience new types of mobility cultures,” he says. “If you think out of the box, you can already see completely different mobility cultures than ours in countries like India and China.” 16

Monitoring mobility cultures is an important activity for the researchers. After all, only those who know how people across the globe are moving around can offer them the products they need. It’s astonishing from a European perspective, for example, how calmly huge numbers of people move about in Asia without causing major congestion and conflicts, Mankowsky says. They move through public spaces differently because unlike people in many other regions, Asians tend to view such spaces as a common good that must be respected. The importance of speed is declining around the globe, according to Mankowsky, because cities are becoming more crowded and it’s difficult to get to places quickly. Other values not directly related to automobiles are becoming more important instead. “The attraction of old things, for example,” says Mankowsky, who claims there are clear signs that objects and habits from the old analog world are becoming popular again. Instant picture cameras, for example, are back in fashion, typewriters have been rediscovered, record players are finding their way into living rooms again, and records to play on them are reappearing in some stores. When asked if the trend toward connectivity between vehicles and the outside world will influence the automobiles of the future, Mankowsky replies: “Connectivity with the help of a car is nothing new; roads have been networking us from the beginning — the electronics just offer another means of doing so.” Environmental issues will have a noticeable impact on future cars because “people will create new ways to connect with nature, which will increase the importance of environmental considerations.” According to Mankowsky, this can already be seen in big cities, where people are rediscovering gardening and even tiny urban plots can emphasize the relevance of “green thinking.” Says Mankowsky: “This trend may also make its way into the vehicle interior via the materials used.” To make his point he reveals a sketch of a new type of interior. In other words, the future of the automobile has already arrived. And it is being further refined with the help of people for the benefit of people.

HYPERLINK Further information related to this article: daimler-technicity.DE/EN/mAN

• PHOTO GALLERY The making of the TECHNICITY photo shoot • VIDEO (1) An inside view of Daimler’s Customer Research Center (CRC). (2) The Attention Assist fatigue warning system.

MICROSCOPE MEPS:

The

modular

ergonomic test rig. How do you find out what it’s like to sit in a car that has not yet been built? How easy will it be to operate such a car? These and other questions can be answered with the help of Daimler’s MEPS (modular ergonomic test rig). The MEPS is a complex system of various components, rails, and actuators. It can be used to simulate vehicle interiors, including the dimensions in the front and rear, and it can also simulate vehicle operation. To this end, the MEPS can be fitted with a steering wheel and pedals that are placed in the exact positions where they will be located in a given vehicle. Test subjects in the seats are thus able to experience in reality what was previously a purely theoretical vehicle concept. They can also do everything they would normally do in a real car. As a result, researchers and developers are able to determine if all ergonomic and other requirements have been met. Here, they pose questions such as: “Are the dimensions and arrangement of the seats, pedals, and steering wheel correct?” “Are the controls easy to reach?” “What’s the view like out of the windshield and windows?” “Is there enough freedom of movement in the rear?” “Are the shelves and trays easy to reach?” “How easy is it to get in and out of the car?” The MEPS can help answer nearly all such questions concerning vehicle interiors. Any necessary changes can then be made. The modular ergonomic test rig is also so flexible that it can be used to simulate cars, commercial vehicles, and even buses. Without a doubt, it’s a universal vehicle development tool.

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Ph otos yn t hes is

SPECTRUM

Martin fritz Asia correspondent and author, based in Tokyo for Norddeutsche Rundfunk (NDR Info) since 2001

Tokyo, Japan

Seoul, South Korea

QingdaO, China

Trees, bacteria, and flowers can do it — and now researchers are also converting sunlight into hydrogen, sugar, and oils. Technical photosynthesis could solve the energy problems of mankind. Living organisms collect 1,350 terawatts of energy every year using photosynthesis — but humans only consume 16 terawatts a year. The principle of the natural power plants is actually quite simple: Chlorophyll captures sunlight, whose energy breaks water down into oxygen and hydrogen. The latter is used to produce energy-rich compounds such as sugar. The artificial imitation of photosynthesis has only succeeded to a limited degree up until now, however. Grätzel (dye-sensitized) solar cells use chlorophyll and other pigments to convert sunlight into electrical energy. An efficiency of 13 percent has already been achieved in the lab — corresponding to about one-third of the efficiency of the best silicon solar cells. Grätzel cells can be

MELBOURNE, Australia

»Technical photosynthesis would solve the energy problems of mankind. However, its artificial imitation has only succeeded to a limited degree up until now.«

manufactured cleanly and relatively cheaply. Improvements still have to be made to their long-term durability, however. Researchers at Panasonic in Japan are exposing a nitride semiconductor to light in order to split off electrons that are used in a reaction between water and carbon dioxide. The end product is formic acid from which hydrogen can be extracted and used to power fuel cells. Yet another approach genetically reprograms the tiniest organisms capable of photosynthesis: Millions of Prochlorococcus bacteria can be found in every liter of seawater, and these organisms could be used to produce biofuels in the future.

Ones and z eros

100 years is the expected service life of conventional data storage media.

1,000 degrees Celsius is no problem for the quartz glass data storage unit.

1,000,000 US$ was collected through crowdsourcing for LIFX in just a short period of time.

ASIA OCEANIA

L a b- o n-ACh i p

ioca s

Pulsating nanospirals Seoul, South Korea

Data storage unit with an unlimited lifespan Tokyo, Japan

World’s most modern research ship QingdaO, China

Intelligent, wirelessly controlled light bulbs MELBOURNE, Australia

Virtually all substances expand when exposed to heat and then contract again when it gets cold. However, a special nanotube made of symmetrically arranged organic molecules does exactly the opposite. Changing temperatures even cause the tiny tubes to pulsate. According to Korean researchers, this attribute could be used to create temperature-controlled nanopumps for individual molecules in lab-on-a-chip systems that could, for example, carry out controlled biochemical reactions.

The actual service life of many modern digital storage media such as DVDs and hard drives cannot be accurately predicted. Nevertheless, experts believe that most such data storage units will not last for more than 100 years. After that, if data is not transferred to a new medium in time it could be lost. The Japanese electronics company Hitachi recently presented a new, extremely robust data carrier made of ultra-thin quartz glass that should last for at least one hundred million years. The two-millimeter thick water-resistant chip, which looks like a tiny piece of glass, should be able to withstand temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius for several hours and should also be very resistant to chemicals — including almost all acids. Data is stored in binary form on the chip and can be read using a normal microscope.

China’s high-tech research ship Kexue was handed over to its owner in Qingdao, a port city in Shandong, on September 29. According to the Director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS), Sun Song, the “moveable ocean lab” is much more robust and agile and also has a larger lab area than any other comparable research ship. The Kexue will be used over the next ten to 20 years for oceanographic applications, including studies of the Earth’s bodies of water, the climate, deep sea research, and verification of geodata.

App developer Ben Hamey and a team based in Melbourne and San Francisco have created an intelligent light bulb that can be operated via a smartphone. “LIFX” (pronounced LIFE-X) is a WLAN-enabled, energy efficient, multi-colored LED lamp that reacts to signals from an iPhone or Android smartphone App. Within just a very short time, LIFX brought in over one million US$ on the Kickstarter crowdsourcing platform, which might make it the fifth-fastest Kickstarter project to raise a million US$ dollars. LIFX is programmed and manufactured in Shenzen, China; the first project deliveries are expected in March 2013.

wissenschaft-aktuell.de

techinasia.com

newsonjapan.com

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SPECTRUM

C ycl e Ch ic Jochen WITTMANN Freelance foreign correspondent for the news forum Eurotopics and numerous German-language dailies since 1993; based in London

Dresden, Germany

SENSORIC NET WOR K

Munich, Germany

A city transformed into a laboratory Santander, Spain

Sheffield, UK

Santander, Spain

H igh -TECH fac t s

3,000 sensors have already been distributed around Santander.

400 percent increase in bicycle traffic planned for London.

12 “cycle superhighways” are planned by Boris Johnson.

The northern Spanish port city of Santander with its roughly 180,000 residents is being turned into a large-scale experimental area for developing the intelligent city of the future. More than 3,000 of 12,000 planned sensors have already been distributed around town and are now collecting a broad range of realtime data on everything from available parking spaces to air quality and noise levels. The information is sent via the Internet to a central computer that citizens can access via a digital city map. Authorities have also called upon citizens to contribute ideas for new applications based on the data — most ideas to date have originated with researchers and companies. The organizers believe “SmartSantander” will distinguish itself from other smart city projects through permanent transparency and the provision of complete information on results. Publicized information on every step of development will also increase public approval for further expansion of the sensor network. smartsantander.eu

Last July, Bradley Wiggins became the first English cyclist to win the Tour de France. But that’s not the whole story behind the current bicycle revolution in the UK. Things began several years ago and have been gaining momentum ever since. This bicycle craze may have come a little late compared to the UK’s European neighbors — but as they say, better late than never. Indeed, the British have (re)discovered cycling as a lifestyle factor, and London is the focal point of this development.

»The United Kingdom is discovering cycling as a lifestyle factor. L ondon is the focal point of this development.«

For one thing, the introduction of a city congestion charge in the British capital led many commuters to switch to bikes. As a result, the number of bicycle trips there has more than doubled over the last decade and now stands at half-a-million per day. Online shops like cyclechic.co.uk have also sprung up and offer stylish bike accessories that include everything from designer helmets to high-end laptop saddle bags. Back in 2008, London Mayor Boris Johnson established a bicycle rental system that has become a huge success and will therefore be significantly expanded this year. This bicycle revolution will continue, as Johnson now plans to build 12 “cycle superhighways” — wide bike paths that will ensure that commuters can cycle safely into the city center — between now and 2015. This could increase bicycle traffic volume by 400 percent compared to the year 2000.

Europe

3 D m ap Navigating in

Researchers develop

buildings

printable magnetic sensor

Munich, Germany

Dresden, Germany

Precise navigation out in the open is generally no problem these days, thanks to GPS and mobile terminals. The situation is different inside large building complexes, especially when detailed layouts aren’t available. Now, however, scientists at Technische Universität München have developed a small data vehicle that uses a laser scanner and a camera to create 3D maps of building interiors. A user of the associated smartphone app only needs to photograph his or her surroundings. The software compares this image with those in the app’s database and informs the user where he or she is located and how to get to a desired destination. The whole process only takes a few seconds and delivers location positioning information to within one meter.

Artificial bee brain will learn how to fly Sheffield, UK

Researchers at the University of Sheffield have launched an ambitious project known as “Green Brain.” The aim is to transfer the cognitive abilities of honey bees into a computer brain and ultimately into an autonomous flying robot. To this end, the scientists are precisely simulating the bees’ ability and sense of smell with the help of high-performance processors. In this manner, they hope to ensure that in flight, the small robots will act in exactly the same way as their natural role models. With bee populations declining, researchers believe it might also be possible to use the artificial bees to pollinate plants in the future. shef.ac.uk/news

A large proportion of today’s electronic components can already be produced with printing techniques. Now, scientists at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (IFW) and the Chemnitz University of Technology have developed another printed electronic component that can be used, for example, in displays and solar cells. It is a printable magnetic field sensor that can be integrated into electronic microsystems as a switch and can be applied to paper and films. This development will open up new application possibilities for printed circuits — for instance, in intelligent packages or books that communicate with their surroundings. This represents a big step toward the vision of integrated and completely printable electronics.

rcs.ei.tum.de ifw-dresden.de

TECHNICITY.DAIMLER.COM

Robot ics

SPECTRUM

Steffan HEUER U.S. correspondent for brand eins and the German edition of Technology Review. Specialist for high-tech and economics

Madison, U.S.

Berkeley, U.S.

Toronto, Canada

Robots in Hollywood movies tend to develop human traits — but the roughly 8.6 million robots currently in use around the world generally don’t interact with their human colleagues. Robot visionaries like former MIT Professor Rodney Brooks see a future in which machines become social entities and can be used as cheap sources of labor. Brooks’ company, Rethink, has therefore developed a robot named “Baxter” that has a thirst for knowledge and is already being tested under real conditions by a handful of American firms. Baxter learns from its human colleagues rather than simply carrying out monotonous arm movements. Next

Austin, U.S.

»In 2013, robots will be launched with artificial eyes and sensitive gripper hands that bring them close to what we’re used to from science fiction films.«

year could be the year of the small robot, as companies like AnyBots and Smart Robots will be launching machines whose artificial eyes and sensitive gripper hands will bring them close to what we’re used to from science fiction films. Meanwhile, inventors in Silicon Valley have joined together to create a robotics association, and programmers are now selling software in the first-ever app store for robots. In addition, pioneers like Bossa Nova are planning to build “personal robots for the 21st century” that can be modified as desired. The 1.50-meter tall PR2 robot from Willow Garage, for example, can find its way around an office, open doors by itself, and get drinks out of a refrigerator.

Electricity from wave dampers on the ocean floor Berkeley, California (U.S.)

Wave power plants don’t have to float on the surface — they can also efficiently convert wave energy into electricity while lying on the bottom of the sea. That’s because the muddy seafloor is able to extract a significant amount of energy from the waves. This phenomenon gave a mechanical engineer from California the idea for developing the seafloor power plant. A type of carpet made of stable plastic foil is placed on the seafloor in shallow coastal waters at a depth of up to about 20 meters. Springs or dampers underneath this carpet absorb the energy from the waves. Generators then convert the resulting continual movements of the dampers into electrical energy. Another advantage of this approach is that seafloor power plants could produce very large amounts of electricity from high waves and storms. Moreover, because they absorb part of the waves’ energy, such power plants might even be able to reduce the force of a tsunami. However, the concept is still a long way from practical application. The current plan is to develop a small prototype with dampers that are as long-lasting as possible and has highly flexible foils. news.sciencemag.org

North America

Human Avatar

From semi- to super-

Software that acts like a human Austin, Texas (U.S.)

Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin have developed a software program that succeeded for the first time in convincing more than 50 percent of test subjects that it was an actual human being. The program was entered into a competition that featured a derivative of the well-known Turing test for assessing the quality of artificial intelligence. Unlike the communication-based Turing test, the “BotPrize” competition utilizes anonymous encounters between people and software-controlled avatars in the virtual world of the “Unreal Tournament” video game. The test here is geared more toward spatial cognition than communication ability. The avatar controlled by a software program called UT^2 was identified as human by game players in 51.9 percent of the test runs. The “Mirrorbot” program developed by a French team achieved a test result of 52.2 percent. At 53.5 percent, the best result that was posted by an actual human being was only slightly better. The secret to the success of both programs was their ability to imitate human behavior. They continually analyzed the moves of their fellow players in the game environment, and their imitations of the behavior they detected were frequently assessed by the test jury as being human.

Solar parks modeled

conductor with scotch tape

on sunflowers

TORONTO, Canada

Madison, Wisconsin (U.S.)

Creating a connection between superconductors and semiconductors usually involves complex procedures and a lot of effort and money. Canadian physicists have now demonstrated that normal scotch tape can be used to create materials with previously unattained properties. The simple manufacturing method employed here transforms semiconductor material into a high-temperature superconductor. All it takes is close proximity to transfer the zero-resistance electrical conductivity of the superconductor to the semiconductor. The new materials that can be developed on the basis of this first experiment could be used in future quantum computers, for example.

Sunflowers always turn their blossoms toward the sun. U.S. materials researchers have now applied this principle to solar cells and created a prototype whose energy yield is around ten percent higher than conventional units. This feat was made possible by a light-reactive plastic that contracts when exposed to heat and expands in the cold. The researchers also added carbon nanotubes to the plastic to ensure it can effectively absorb heat from incoming sunlight. The new system is completely autonomous and has no electrically powered mechanical parts. In a pilot project, scientists are also now working on the development of a larger and more stable tracking system for the light-reactive plastics. If the new material can be manufactured at a reasonable cost, it might be possible to significantly increase the energy yield of entire solar parks.

news.utoronto.ca

news.wisc.edu newscientist.com

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Sharing Society Text Steffan Heuer

ILLUSTRATION Iassen MARKOV

New Internet-based communication platforms are enabling people to make more flexible and effective use of resources without having to own them. The resources involved range from workstations and services all the way to vehicles.

SMARt Sharing The sharing society is based on flexible, dynamic relationships between customers and companies.

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Keywords

sm a rt sh a r ing communication pl atfor m Cloud -based Peer-to -Peer Networ ks new customer r el ations

their goods and services in face-to-face transactions but instead create and utilize intelligent platforms. The latter provide a forum where individuals and businesses negotiate and make deals at favorable terms smoothly, reliably, and in a sustainable manner. Lisa Gansky, a U.S. citizen, is a well-known pioneer of the sharing society. Her book The Mesh is a 250-page work that describes the formation and potential of the new forms of collaboration. Gansky argues that the sharing society is superior to the existing property-based society for six reasons: [1]

[2]

[3]

magine you’re in Stuttgart, Germany, for a business meeting and want to go from the central railway station to the Feuerbach district in the northwestern part of the city. In the old days, you would hail a cab or ask a local how to get there by bus. Now you have more freedom of choice: You can launch the moovel mobile app and immediately see when the next bus to Feuerbach will arrive. The app will also let you know whether a tram might be a better option or even if there’s someone in the area who’s willing to give you a ride. moovel can also tell you whether a smart electric drive car2go vehicle is available at the train station. After your meeting, you head over to Coworking0711 on Ossietzkystraße, where you’ve already purchased a day ticket online that allows you to work productively at the site for the remainder of your stay. Here, at Stuttgart’s first coworking space, you meet other business professionals and entrepreneurs who give you tips on what to do in the city in the evening. After you finish work, you don’t go to a hotel but instead to a room you’ve booked with Airbnb using your smartphone. You’ve already seen that on this day, more than 100 private individuals in and around Stuttgart are offering a guest room or even an entire house for members of the sharing network. This system not only helps travelers find a place to stay but also enables them to expand their personal network to include partners from all over the world. Welcome to the sharing society — a world that increasingly involves the intelligent shared allocation of all kinds of things. The society of tomorrow will be based on flexible and dynamic relations between customers and businesses. These relations will be negotiated according to timeframes, locations, requirements, capabilities, and the reputations of individual users. The mobile Internet and ubiquitous smartphones are now making it possible to move away from an economy and society that is centered on property toward a model marked by collaboration and the common utilization of goods and services. The key to this transition is mobile technology that promotes the efficient utilization of hardware, software, time, and knowledge. This new world is still in its early stages. Nevertheless, successful approaches like Daimler’s car2go initiative, its recently introduced moovel app, and hundreds of other systems provided by companies worldwide clearly show where we’re heading. The destination is a world in which small and large companies no longer sell 26

[4]

[5]

[6]

Mobile technology and GPS location positioning make it easier and more convenient to access goods and services exactly where they’re needed. A growing global population and increasing urbanization require a more intelligent approach to using scarce resources. Those who share goods and services, especially through carsharing and ridesharing (e.g. car2go, mitfahrgelegenheit.de), can reduce their procurement and operating costs for hardware and software. They can also create new sources of income for themselves. Sharing lays the foundation for long-term business relationships because customers get to know and appreciate the brands they’re dealing with better after every transaction. They can also provide companies with feedback that can spur innovation. Customers in the sharing society enjoy a better experience because they don’t just consume a product once but instead continually request services that become more and more tailored to their needs. The sharing society creates more trust among market participants and gives them the freedom to focus on values other than profit maximization.

The transformation has just begun, according to Gansky: “If you look around closely, you’ll see sharing platforms everywhere,” she says. “Their founders and operators understand they can make a lot of money if they provide people with convenient access to goods and services that can be shared. The Mesh is by no means a universal solution. However, a network that processes sharing transactions can eventually beat out a rival that sells its product to only one customer at a time. The Mesh represents the next big opportunity to create new business models and modernize old ones.”

MICROSCOPE

Mobility And Agility

Moovel is a pilot project launched by Business Innovation — the Daimler lab for innovative business models. moovel offers users an integrated mobility concept that can be accessed directly from their smartphone or via a mobile website. It has been running in Stuttgart since July 2012 and in Berlin since the end of October 2012. The app provides an immediate overview of the optimal routes from A to B, presenting all options clearly and in a user-friendly way. These options include all the mobility services provided by local companies — in other words, public transport networks, taxis, and carsharing and ridesharing firms. The local public transport partner in Berlin is Verkehrsbetriebe Berlin-Brandenburg; the partners in Stuttgart are Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen AG, Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund Stuttgart GmbH, and the city of Stuttgart. The Berlin project also marks the first time Daimler has integrated its car2go subsidiary into its mobility platform. car2go will be incorporated into the Stuttgart system by the end of 2012. The moovel ridesharing partner in both cities is mitfahrgelegenheit.de, a service from the ridesharing pioneer carpooling.com. With more than four million registered users, the company is the world market leader for ridesharing services.

Wilfried Steffen, Head of Business Innovation at Daimler, also believes the sharing society offers great potential. He sees the moovel pilot projects in Stuttgart and Berlin as good examples of the way forward: “We’re fully utilizing the intelligent linking of various mobility services here — from public transport systems to ridesharing and carsharing. The moovel app not only shows users the best way to get from A to B; it also helps them use existing resources more efficiently.” Users actively participate in the optimization of the sharing platforms as well: “We incorporate them into the further development process in order to make moovel more attractive with every update.” The driving forces behind services like moovel are mobility and agility. Increasingly faster data collection and processing in the Cloud makes it possible to break down goods and services into ever-smaller units. This, in turn, enables every consumer and company to procure customized products and services — in many cases via smartphones or tablet computers. Sensors, location positioning services, and realtime inventory systems can display available vehicles and allow users to rent, borrow, or use parking spaces, desks in offices, and conference rooms. Things that only large companies used to be able to afford can now be done by individual consumers via sharing platforms — for example, offering one’s parking space or labor to the highest bidder. Staff at Daimler Research in Berlin also point out another development, namely the different expectations of today’s younger generation, for whom property has lost its meaning as a status symbol and a reflection of one’s personality. Instead, an urban lifestyle is now being expressed more and more through a presence in social networks and a type of demonstrative sustainable consumption behavior. That’s why so-called millennials think it’s important to regularly switch the cars they drive and thus show their friends that they’re always on top of the latest trends. Those who are part of the sharing society are in tune with the times because as far as consumers are concerned, switching from buying to renting means greater transparency and flexibility. It also results in faster access to the most innovative products and services, whose further development they actively shape. Businesses benefit here from lower initial investments, a faster pace of innovation, direct feedback, and long-term customer relationships. A sharp distinction is made between two different models of sharing. In the centralized model, a provider like car2go owns the product, which it rents out at a certain rate. Alternatively, it charges a membership fee. In the peer-to-peer model (P2P), the provider only creates a platform that serves as a catalyst for individual participants, who can be either consumers or businesses. TECHNICITY.DAIMLER.COM

The peer-to-peer network concept is actually nothing new. Although the term is often associated with the sharing of music files, which is usually illegal, scientists have long used such networks to solve research problems more rapidly. The most well-known example here is SETI@home, a system launched in 1999 at the University of California, Berkeley. This system pools the unused computing capacity of more than five million PCs around the world to analyze data from radio telescopes in an effort to discover signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. The new feature that distinguishes today’s peer-to-peer networks today has been created by mobile networks and apps, which now offer every consumer the chance to become a producer. Both centrally managed and P2P networks are now booming market segments of the sharing society. Based on her research, Gansky claims there are already more than 7,600 companies operating in these sectors in 413 cities in 36 countries. They include everything from small one-man operations that rent out living Christmas trees, to startups financed with venture capital. The latter include Airbnb from San Francisco, and vacation rental companies like Wimdu from Berlin. Sharing and collaboration are now also well established in many business segments. Examples include carsharing and bikesharing, office desk rentals on an hourly or monthly basis, and services such as TaskRabbit, which enable companies or private individuals to spontaneously rent out labor power for small jobs like lawn mowing or even shopping. New financing networks like Kickstarter in the U.S. and Startnext in Germany are also sprouting up in the sharing society. Linked with payment systems like Square, which require only a smartphone rather than a cash register, these so-called crowdfunding platforms now also offer individuals the opportunity to acquire venture capital and even receive payments made by credit card. Also flourishing are platforms for the sharing of clothing, tools, and even one’s own garden. “Two things make sharing attractive to people — greater convenience and lower costs,” says Adam Lesser, who works at the Blueshift Research investment firm. Lesser is also the author of a study on the opportunities and risks associated with the sharing economy. You yourself will be able to confirm these advantages when you’re finished with your business in Stuttgart. Moreover, the evaluations of your coworking space and accommodations that you send via your smartphone as you head home will expand and improve the sharing society, click by click.

HYPERLINK Further information related to this article: daimler-technicity.DE/EN/sharing

• VIDEO The official trailer for moovel, the new mobility platform from Daimler. • BACKGROUND (1) Paying electronically: Financial platforms make it possible for the sharing society to use smartphones to conduct business. (2) Kickstarter and other crowd financing systems.

»Sharing concepts offer additional flexibility.« Wilfried Steffen, Head of Business Innovation at Daimler, talks about the potential of the sharing concept.

EXPERIENCE Mr. Steffen, do you have any private or professional experience with the sharing society? Yes, I frequently use car2go and every time I do, I appreciate the flexibility it offers.

MOTIVATION How would you define the concept of the sharing society? For me, the sharing society stands for a trend toward a different type of consumption. Consumers now think carefully about which products they want and how they will use them. They also ask themselves if it makes sense to make a purchase. Of course, all of this depends on the products in question and the motivation behind making a purchase. FLEXIBILITY Why do you think both companies and consumers find this concept attractive? Companies like it for business reasons. After all, they’re always critically examining the capacity utilization of their machines, buildings, parking lots, and vehicle fleets. Consumers are more interested in achieving greater freedom. Sharing concepts offer both companies and consumers additional flexibility. Sharing first became popular in the music sector. That was more than ten years ago; I’m sure everyone remembers Napster. Young people in particular were quickly taken with the idea of getting music from others in a community rather than buying it. They also wanted others to share their own music. We’re now seeing an interesting development with car2go. Contrary to the commonly held view that carsharing is mainly a thing for the young, we’ve discovered that the age of car2go customers ranges from 18 to 70, whereby the 18-24, 25-35, and 36-49-year old age groups are equally represented.

TRENDS Why is the sharing society interesting for a major automobile group like Daimler? We always take a close look at the trends in society that impact our business as a provider of mobility — and sharing is one such trend. It therefore makes sense that in addition to pursuing our core

business, we should also develop services that enable flexible and temporary mobility. Alongside offering commodity sharing — for example the sharing of a vehicle — we’re working on concepts that go beyond. One such concept is ridesharing. Here, our cooperation in this area with the company mitfahrgelegenheit.de has allowed us to place the original car2gether concept on a much broader foundation.

services because they know their way around their city. moovel, however, is a very interesting app for people who are extremely mobile — and the demand for mobility in various societies will not decline but instead expand beyond one’s own direct environment. It’s also likely that more and more people will be looking for inexpensive solutions for their mobility needs. You can already see this in the increasing demand for ridesharing services, especially among commuters. Environmental aspects will also play a bigger role in the future.

Moovel moovel is another new concept. One feature allows users to arrange a private lift quickly and easily. What’s so special about that? moovel is based on a simple question: “What’s the best way to get from A to B without limiting oneself to a single mode of transport?” The app shows the user a whole range of options, including car2go, buses, trains, rideshares, or even taxis. We view moovel as an open platform that is basically open to everyone offering mobility products or services.

curriculum vitae

Partner What have you learned so far from the moovel projects in Stuttgart and Berlin? We launched our second pilot project in Berlin at the end of October. But we’ve got more ambitious plans in mind as well, of course. If the two pilot projects are successful, we’ll definitely be moving into other cities next year. We’ve gained valuable experience through our dialogue with potential partners, and we’re also pleased with the feedback from users after the moovel launch in Stuttgart, especially regarding the app’s user friendliness. The most frequent request was for us to introduce an Android app, which we will be doing soon.

Born in 1955 married, two daughters, one son degree in business management at Daimler for almost 30 years 1981-1993 at Daimler-Benz Controlling in Bremen 1993-1999 Vice President Controlling and Finance at Mercedes-Benz North America 2000-2003 Head of DaimlerChrysler Switzerland 2003-2011 Head of UK subsidiary Mercedes-Benz UK Ltd

demand How will people’s mobility habits change in the sharing society? People increasingly view mobility as a mix of several options. There will always be people who say they only drive, or take trains or ride bikes. There will also be people who say they don’t need mobility TECHNICITY.DAIMLER.COM

Zeitgeist Where does the biggest innovation potential lie in this sector? Many things referred to as sharing today were tried out ten years ago and then discarded because attitudes were different at that time or because the technology needed wasn’t yet available. Our view is that the “anytime/anywhere” remains the key for systems like car2go and moovel, for example. Access to flexible mobility services anytime and anywhere is a need that’s becoming more and more prominent in mobile societies. And here smartphones are acting like catalysts. Innovation Will most of the innovations to come originate with large well-established companies or with smaller startups? Many of today’s startups in this sector are being founded by individuals who detect a consumer need and develop a solution to meet it. The ridesharing boom is a typical example of this. The concept actually existed for decades; small flexible startups got it off the ground. The next step usually involved a consolidation phase in which it became apparent that bigger companies were better able to place these services on a broader technical platform, generate economies of scale, and thus become successful. The normal rules of the market apply here — the same ones that operate in other online markets as well. 29

Signs of Mobi l i t y

Back in 1968, the Dutch national railway c ompany was given a radical new corporate identity. A company known as Teldesign revamped the entire image of the rail mobility system in the N etherlands, changing everything from the logo to the design of the train stations. This process was part of the cultural development of the Netherlands in the second half of the 20th century. Text Peter Thomas

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Nederlandse Spoorwegen and Europe: The lesson of regular intervals With the introduction of public transport connections at regular intervals The Dutch railroads’ (Nederlandse Spoorwegen) set standards in European railroad transport. The importance of international connections is also illustrated by rail vehicles such as the Trans Europ Express “DE IV” and the ICE 3: The TEE (a cooperation with Switzer land) was jointly operated by the Dutch railroad company and the Swiss Federal railroad company (SBB) from 1957 to 1977. The routes linked cities like Amsterdam, Zurich, Basel, Brussels, and Paris. The high-speed train ICE 3 of the German railroad (Deutsche Bahn — DB) entered service in 1997. Nederlandse Spoorwegen has purchased four of these trains, which can travel at up to 330 km/h, for international operations. The trains are equipped with multi-system technology and painted in the colors of the German ICE trainsets.

Amsterdam Central Station The regional public transport network’s visual design has been stamped upon the city of Amsterdam since the 1980s, as can be seen in this photo of Amsterdam “Centraal” station.

ellow and blue, clear and mod ern — that’s how the Neder landse Spoorwegen reap peared in 1968 after under going a brand modernization that clearly pointed toward the future. The new distinc tive corporate design created by Teldesign not only liberated the rail company from its drab postwar look; also, and more impor tantly, it changed the way mobility was viewed by the public in the Netherlands. The central element of the new semiotic system for the railway was the logo devel

oped by Gert Dumbar. Nederlandse Spoor wegen had already done away with the original Nederlandse Spoorwegen trade mark — a Baroque-like impeller logo — when Jan de Haan created the first postwar em blem for the rail company. However, it wasn’t until Gert Dumbar came along that the separation from the old-style design was completed: Dumbar experimented with arrows and abstract, track-like figures be fore coming up with a design that symbol ized the entire rail system itself.

The new trademark also corresponded to the new vision the transport company had developed for itself in 1968, says Pro fessor Rolf-Ulrich Kunze from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT): “The idea was that the mission of the rail system was no longer to lend passengers wings but to in stead become an indispensable component of a modern lifestyle, both technologically and socially.” The message of the network symbol that placed the Nederlandse Spoor wegen brand in the center of public percep tion was a deep one, in other words.

Amsterdam Public transport The corporate identity of the public transport authority (Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf — GVB) in Amsterdam is also derived from the basic graphic concept behind the Dutch railroad (Nederlandse Spoorwegen).

There was a reason for this: The mes sage was sent at a time of intense competi tion between modes of transport. In re sponse, the national rail company, which was created in 1938 by the merger of legally separate railroad entities, decided to radi cally change its corporate identity. The aim was to lend a new face to the mobility ser vice it provided. The Netherlands of the 1960s wasn’t the only place where the bal ance between collective and individual transport was such a hot topic of discussion in politics and society. In Germany and the

UK, for example, this process led to the de commissioning of many rail lines. Still, the situation in the Netherlands was different than in either of the two other countries. “The majority of the Dutch peo ple didn’t want to embark upon the path of an automobile-dominated society in which public transport, and certainly bicycles, would be relegated to a secondary status,” Kunze explains. The collective wish for hav ing private motor vehicles, public transport, bicycles, and other forms of mobility coexist alongside one another is what has made the

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Dutch mobility system different from that of many of its neighbors to this very day. The new corporate image for the railway company was perfectly in tune with this de sire in 1968, and that same attitude can now help with the development of a mobility con cept that intelligently links various modes of transport. “The Dutch approach shows how something like that can be created with a high level of mobile sophistication,” says Kunze.

Good mobility design is also extremely important for public transport on streets and roads. Various transport companies not only develop their own signage systems here; the vehicles themselves also create a design idiom that results in a style specific to individual countries or cultural groups. For example, the German urban bus sys tems were dominated from the late 1960s until the turn of the century by the VÖV standard regular service buses, which in cluded icons like the Mercedes-Benz O 305 (first generation) and the Mercedes-Benz O 405 (second generation). The design of the standaard streekbussen introduced in the Netherlands in 1967 was completely dif ferent, however. The first generation of these buses included the Leyland-Verheul LVB668 and the DAF MB200. One of the de sign attributes of these models were round ed headlights mounted in frames. Typical elements of Benelux buses from that era were also to be found in buses made by Bel gian manufacturer Van Hool, which began operating on the Dutch market in 1954. Such country-specific commercial vehicle design styles can still be found today. They

Urban transport in London World famous: Red city buses and the iconic logo of London’s “Tube.”

London Underground logo The complete design concept of the London public transport network was developed from the historical logo known as the roundel.

identify a vehicle or brand to observers, who intuitively understand that the models originate from a certain place or region. In view of the global trend toward in creasing urbanization, mobility design has taken on new meaning as a style element of modern cityscapes. Megacities and megaregions not only need extensive transport networks; the associated infrastructure must also be accompanied by a system of signs that users can intuitively understand as much as possible. This is especially true of dynamic traffic signs that interact with vehicles on the road. Most importantly, however, the net working of transport flows and modes must be clearly and prominently reflected in the design. A good example of the successful implementation of such an approach is the local public transport system in Greater London, whose traditional roundel logo for the London Underground subway became a model for the trademarks and signage of public transport systems around the globe. The roundel in its current form was de signed by Edward Johnston in 1919. The de sign for the equally iconic system map was

developed by Harry Beck in 1931. The map’s abstract depiction of the system’s lines has also served as a basis for subway maps worldwide. The Dutch national railway company’s new corporate design from 1968 basically achieved the same thing that London did with the design of its subway in the first half of the 20th century: Users not only reacted positively to the signage system and its typ ical colors and shapes; they also made the railway company’s new modern presenta tion part of their own identity. This process was described by Wibo Bakker in his 2011 book on Dutch corporate designs in the pe riod from 1960 to 1975. The great importance that good design continues to have in the Netherlands can also be explained by the country’s history, says Kunze: “Symbols of integration that create a common identity and a sense of belonging are important in a society that has been sharply divided since the 19th century along social-moral-worldview lines based on religion and political convictions.” Kunze also points out that alongside archi tecture, the design of consumer goods and

faCtum Facts and figures on the development of the European rail network from the early national railway lines to the modern European corridors

1835

1835 is the year when the railroad, which was developed in Great Britain, reaches the European continent: The first line opens in Belgium in May of that year and is followed in December by the first German line, from Nuremberg

Mercedes-Benz O 305 The first

to Fürth.

generation of this classic is an iconic urban bus of the public transport operators’ association (VÖV).

17 kilometers is the length of the first rail line in the Nether lands, which links Amsterdam and Haarlem when it opens in 1839. “The country’s topography was not favorable for railroads,” is how Victor von Röll describes this era in his 1912 history of railroad development. This was mainly due to the need to build numerous bridges and support struc tures for crossing canals and rivers. Nevertheless, in 1836, King W ilhelm I granted a concession for the construction

Mercedes-Benz O 405 Even today,

and operation of the Netherlands’ first rail line.

the second-generation successor is still operating in urban environments worldwide.

1,945

A broad gauge track (1,945 millimeters) is defined as the standard by the builders of the first Dutch rail lines. However, the rapidly growing interconnections between European rail networks eventually leads to the establishment of the British normal gauge (1,435 millimeters) as the standard in the Netherlands as well. Conversion work is completed in 1866. A key driver of the development of cross-border rail traffic is the connection between Dutch ports and the markets and factories of the German states.

Trains, control system, and stations The characteristic red is the trademark of Transport for London.

332

332 kilometers is the length of the Dutch rail network in 1857. Work over the next few decades focuses mainly on the construction of major rail sections, but after 1878 it shifts to the construction of new lines for local and regional connections. The length of the network increases nearly tenfold in just 50 years: In 1910, it stretches more than 3,200 kilometers. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Dutch rail network is around 2,800 kilometers long and is one of the most extensively used rail systems in all of Europe, which has a total rail network length of approximately 340,000 kilometers.

Product design The current

Corridor 24 of the trans-European railway axis (TEN-T) traces out a route from Rotterdam to Genoa. The route runs from the Netherlands to Italy via Germany and Switzerland.

generation of the regional public transport system’s

The route’s importance for freight traffic will increase further

trains also has the “London Underground” look.

when the Gotthard Base Tunnel opens.

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International The use of striking graphic elements in European rail transport.

Swiss Federal Railways The trains of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) have a uniform color combination.

the everyday surrounding environment are the key determinants of this identity. The new Nederlandse Spoorwegen de sign from 1968, which in the beginning main ly reinforced the acceptance of a mobility system during a time of transformation, thus also became part of a social process for de veloping the transport system itself. Among other things, the new signage system and symbols reflected the discursive and social ly communicative state in the Netherlands of the 1960s, according to Kunze. Similar processes occurred at an even earlier time in other countries, although the political conditions and framework were dif ferent. For example, early railroad compa nies in Germany, England, the U.S., and other nations developed typical mobility de signs that were expressed in everything from trademarks and logos to train designs and station architectures. A type of identifi cation community was thus created, despite the fact that its members were separated into three or more classes in the trains. Kunze cites as examples here the design styles employed by the LNER in England, the Reichsbahn in Germany, and the Pennsylva nia Railroad in the U.S.

Nederlandse Spoorwegen presented it self in a completely new look in 1968 — one that featured brilliant yellow train cars with blue highlighting; a modern typography and design for all information media; brandnew, bright uniforms; and a station design based on the airports of that era: The new modern Nederlandse Spoorwegen ex pressed closeness, flexibility, and transpar ency. Thanks to the new corporate design the rail company’s modern fleet, which in cluded a large share of motor rail cars and French-produced avant-garde locomotives, was suddenly regarded as a coherent and uniform system — both in the cities and the countryside. However, mobility design doesn’t just shape and guide people’s perception of ve hicles and infrastructure; the mode of trans port one uses also creates a specific experi ence during the trip. “The railroad creates a new landscape,” is how Wolfgang Schivel busch described the panoramic view pro duced by a speeding train in his 1977 book “The Railway Journey.” Automobiles also offer their own unique panoramic view, although mostly it’s direct ed to the front, through the windshield. The

interior and exterior design of the vehicle, as well as its size and handling, create the backdrop for a perspective that is literally framed by the A-pillars, roof, and hood. This view from inside the automobile is also a type of mobility design that has changed over time. In our modern era, the view of the road landscape is increasingly overlapping with the electronic content produced by every thing from navigation devices to head-up displays. The sensor systems in automo biles are also enhancing the ability of driv ers to perceive their surroundings. These aspects are both a driving force and a chal lenge for the mobility designs of the future.

»Our emotional image recognition system is complicated.« PERCEPTION Mr. Kunze, does mobility shape our perception? Yes, there is a strong mutual interac tion in this regard because when we travel, we almost always see the world around us through the technology that creates the perception format. Indeed, a lot of what we perceive can depend on where we are — whether we’re looking out the window of an old Reichsbahn train car from the former GDR or the window of a modern ICE highspeed train. Or perhaps we’re viewing the world through the curved windshield of a Citroën DS or that of a VW Beetle. In a sense, we project a normal image onto a windshield or window and then notice deviations. If the normal image changes significantly, we register this as a minor but very real disturbance. Our emotional image recognition system is complicated, and scientists like my colleague Kurt Möser at KIT are only just beginning to study this phenomenon in all of its complexity.

Rolf-Ulrich KUNZE talks about mobility and design.

Technology Expert Rolf-Ulrich KUNZE is Professor of modern and recent history at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Curriculum vitae Born 1968 Historian University studies in law, history, German studies, and political science in Frankfurt am Main and Würzburg Since 2007, Kunze has worked at the Institute for Philosophy of the University of Karlsruhe (TH), European Studies course Main areas of research and instruction: History of science and technology, EuropeanAtlantic history of the 19th and 20th century, history of the Netherlands and the U.S.

strong nation states of the industrial age. These states reacted to a rapidly growing sector for industrial applications — in this case mobility — by laying down rules to control it. On the other hand, the consistent restructuring of the corporate design for the Dutch national railway in the 1960s is more a reflection of a discursive and social-com municative state: The new signage system it included was also an organizational mea sure for control or stability. But you can’t compare it with things like traffic signs that provide information or regulate movement. The new Nederlandse Spoorwegen design from 1968 was meant to generate accep tance and was thus part of a process of social change. In order to achieve this goal, the historically weak central government in the Netherlands was obliged to make a strong statement in the public realm.

OPPORTUNITIES What demands have to be met by mobility design today? Logos are the brand centerpiece of the mobility age. This process began with the mass use of railroads and developed further in the automotive era. Contempo rary mobility design needs to refer to different modes of transport and send a message regarding the o pportunities this variety offers.

ACCEPTANCE Is the relationship between signage systems and modern transport modes a relatively recent development? Yes, it is — at least to the extent that traffic regulations and measures governing public transport are characteristic of the

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Moscow Capital of Russia and Europe’s biggest city founded circa 1147 Area (city) 2,550 km² Population (city)

Things worth knowing in cities where urban life and technological innovations come together in a special way.

11.5 million Population (metropolitan region) 15.1 million Population density (city) 4,509 inhabitants/km²

Hong Kong Global financial center and economic hub of southern China Founded circa 3000 B.C. (first settlement) Area (city) 1,085 km² Population (city) 7 million Population (metropolitan region) 63 million (Pearl River Delta) Population density (city) 6,508 inhabitants/km²

rio de Janeiro Second-largest city in Brazil, a major center of business and science Founded 1565 Area (metropolitan region) 4,557 km² Population (city) 6.3 million Population (metropolitan region) 11.9 million Population density (city) 5,018 inhabitants/km²

METROPOLis Moscow

Europe’s biggest city continues to grow. It is forging ahead with municipal decentralization and the expansion of its traffic network.

CITY DEVELOPMENT

Technology

mobility

The capital on the Moskva is expanding. The two administrative districts to the southwest, Troitsk and Novomoskovski, have been part of the metropolis since July 2012. By integrating these districts, Moscow at one stroke more than doubled its area and increased its population by 230,000. Mayor Sobyanin and his administration regard this expansion as a new opportunity for a paradigm shift in Moscow’s urban development. Highly centralized government structures are to be replaced by smaller local entities.

A small village around 15 kilometers from Moscow is to become Russia’s Silicon Valley. With the support of billions in government investments, the Skolkovo innovation center will be expanded into a research and industry cluster that focuses on energy, IT, and biomedicine by 2015. Technology companies such as Intel, Microsoft, and Siemens have joined in the flagship project.

The dynamics of Moscow’s development have pushed the urban transportation infrastructure to its limits. During the week, traffic jams with a total length of 700 kilometers have already been registered within the city. Wealthy residents use helicopter taxis. The development plan for the city calls for the road network to be expanded by 2,000 kilometers and for 380 kilometers of new subway lines to be built by 2025.

HONG kong

The booming region along the Pearl River continues to coalesce into a megacity. It is also the site of massive traffic projects.

CULTURE

INFRASTRUCTURE

FINANCE

The brand-new West Kowloon Cultural District is a civic project that will be started in 2013. Covering an area of 14 hectares, it will include museums, galleries, and theaters. The “City Park” master plan of the renowned architectural firm Foster+Partners was selected as the winner of an international competition.

With eight other cities that have populations of over one million people in the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong is increasingly becoming a gigantic megacity. One of the spectacular projects that are weaving these major cities closer together is the connection across the Pearl River between Hong Kong, Zhuhai, and Macao. The longest uninterrupted section of the bridge will be almost 23 kilometers long. The driving time between Hong Kong and Macao will be reduced to about half an hour.

The 2011 Financial Development Report of the World Economic Forum named Hong Kong the world’s most advanced financial center, ahead of the U.S. in second place and the UK in third. Nowhere else are there as many initial public offerings (IPOs) as in this special administrative zone in southern China. Over 70 of the world’s 100 largest banks have branches in Hong Kong. Since 1996 Daimler Financial Services (DFS) has offered its complete services here, ranging from financing to leasing and insurance products.

R I O DE JA NE I RO

A soccer World Championship and the Olympic Games are upcoming major events. The infrastructure is being greatly expanded.

SUSTAINABILITY

MOBILITY

ARCHITECTURE

This city at the base of Sugarloaf Mountain hosted the United Nations conference on sustainable development in 2012. The “Low Carbon City Development Program” is a municipal project to reduce the city’s emissions. The project’s target is a 20 percent reduction by 2020. Compared to 2005, there has already been an eight percent improvement in pollution levels. The project includes measures such as doubling the number of bike paths, a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, and an urban reforestation project.

In preparation for the flood of visitors expected for the soccer World Championship in 2014 and the Summer Olympic Games in 2016, Rio is building a multiplelane BRT system that will be over 150 kilometers long. The partially completed Trans Oeste BRT lane encompasses: • over 30 kilometers traveled by approximately 90 Mercedes-Benz articulated buses, • a total planned length of 56 kilometers, and • a total of 53 stations in several districts of Rio de Janeiro.

The museum of audiovisual art is housed in a fascinating building right at Copacabana Beach. The six-story building’s façade is circled by a “vertical boulevard” of wide pedestrian ramps. It was designed by the New York architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

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Mobility in Innovation Regions The São Paulo city flag

REPORT Technology, economic growth, creative potential — the innovation regions of the world unite these three elements. After Singapore and Vancouver, TECHNICITY now presents the South American megacity São Paulo, which is faced with major challenges in urban and transport planning.

South America’s World-class CITY

SÃo Paulo Text Markus Wanzeck

CLIMATE

27 – 19 °C

São Paulo has a tropical climate with an average annual humidity of 78 percent. It rains a great deal during the summer, when temperatures fluctuate

between 19 degrees and 27 degrees Celsius. Win19 – 15 °C

ters are generally sunny and dry, with temperatures rarely falling below 15 degrees Celsius. (Source: Cidade de São Paulo)

PHOTOGRAPHY Rafael Dabul

A megacity stuck in traffic

POPULATION DENSITY

29,380

per km2

São Paulo has 7,115 inhabitants per square kilometer on average. The population density is 10,300 inhabitants per square kilometer within a radius of ten kilometers around the city center. Up to

t takes Mario Figueroa and his wife, Letícia Tamisari, seven minutes to get to their breakfast table. Their favorite café is just a few steps away from their apartment. They don’t need to order when they arrive because Aline, the waitress, brings the couple — both architects — the same thing every morning: pão na chapa (buttered toast) and orange juice. It’s 9:30 on a Friday morning in the upscale district of Higienópolis in São Paulo. “We Paulistanos like to begin the day with breakfast out rather than at home,” Figueroa says. They do this despite the sometimes oppressive heat, heavy traffic, and bad air, as well as the high crime rate that is a result of the city’s economic disparities. Even São Paulo’s mayor admits that “the inequality here is among the highest worldwide.” São Paulo is one of the world’s richest and most expensive cities. It’s also the economic center of the emerging market of Brazil, but in its outlying districts the favelas — the slums — are spreading. Nowhere else on earth is there a higher risk of being kidnapped than in São Paulo. Police in bulletproof vests guard the city’s main thoroughfares. Taxi doors are always locked; drivers don’t open them until they’re hailed. Muggings are common — and drivers waiting at traffic lights are often the targets, so they are now permitted to merely brake at red lights at night rather than stop. During the day, traffic comes to a standstill almost everywhere, not only at the traffic lights. The streets are clogged with around seven million vehicles, including more than five million passenger cars and a million motorcycles. The number of cars on the road is growing by nearly 10,000 a month. Statistics like these are a nightmare for the mobility expert Paulo Sergio Custodio, who used to be the head of São Paulo’s traffic planning agency and now assists cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, and Shanghai with their efforts to expand public transportation systems. “We have to radically reduce the number of vehicles in the city,” says Custodio. “We therefore urgently need to introduce congestion tolls like those in London and Singapore.” São Paulo does have temporary driving bans, however. Some of the major roads are closed to trucks during rush hours, and there’s a rotational ban on vehicles (based on the last digit of their license plates) during weekday rush hours (7–10 a.m. and 5–8 p.m.). The ban has had almost no effect; many people just buy a second car. “It sometimes takes two or three hours just to drive a few kilometers during rush hour,” says Figueroa. It’s 150 kilometers of bumper-tobumper traffic, every day. On one especially bad day in 2009, a traffic jam stretched for nearly 300 kilometers. The city is now building a

29,380 people live on each square kilometer in the city’s most densely populated areas. (SOURCES: South American Cities — Securing an Urban Future/Urban Age; Cidade de São Paulo)

Cultural Diversity São Paulo attracts immigrants from all over the world. The city is home to over 100 different ethnic groups. An estimated 5 million inhabitants have Italian ancestors, 3 million have Spanish roots, 1.5 million are descended from Japanese immigrants, 1 million have ancestors from Germany, and several hundred thousand have their origins in Lebanon. (Sources: South American Cities — Securing an Urban Future/Urban Age; Lonely Planet)

POPULATION GROWTH

/h São Paulo is one of the world’s fastest-growing cities, gaining 24 inhabitants every hour. Meanwhile there are more than 11 million inhabitants in São Paulo. (Source: South American Cities — Securing an Urban Future/Urban Age)

SÃo Paulo Metropolitan Area With its approximately 20 million inhabitants, the São Paulo metropolitan area is the world’s sixth-largest conurbation, after Tokyo, Delhi, Mexico City, New York, and Shanghai. (Source: UN Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs)

Skyline São Paulo’s skyline is made up of 5,672 highrise buildings. Only Hong Kong and New York have more. (Source: Emporis)

5,672

Politics São Paulo’s city council is headed by a directly elected mayor. Because the actual city limits do not coincide with the administrative borders, city officials have to coordinate many activities (such as those regarding education, local public transportation, and urban development) with the state government. (Source: South American Cities — Securing an Urban Future/Urban Age)

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MetrÔ Since he doesn’t have a car, the architect Mario Figueroa is one of the four million passengers that São Paulo’s subway transports every day.

comparison Status: Founded: Area (city): Population (metro area): Population density: Price index*: multinationals located there*:

*Sources: UBS (2011); CB Richard Ellis (2011)

SÃo Paulo

TokYo

london Capital of the United Kingdom and

Brazil’s largest city as well as its

Japan’s capital and its main

economic and financial center

transportation hub

largest city in the EU

1554

1457 (as Edo)

47 A.D.

1,523 km²

2,187 km²

1,570 km²

19.8 million

35.6 million

13.9 million

7,115 residents per km²

6,000 residents per km²

5,206 residents per km²

71.50

83.40

73.90

52.10%

63.90%

63.20%

176-kilometer bypass road to link the ten main state highways in the São Paulo region and significantly reduce through traffic in the city. Mario Figueroa speaks softly about São Paulo, almost as if the traffic chaos in the megalopolis, in whose center he lives, didn’t affect him. It’s actually a little bit like that. Figueroa sold his car five years ago. These days, many of his friends say, “You poor guy, you don’t have a car; we’ll pick you up.” But, as Figueroa says, “You simply don’t need a car in this overcrowded megacity.” He can get to most places he needs to go on foot or by train, and when he and his wife get the urge to take a weekend trip to the country, he rents a car. His office is also no further than the café — closer, in fact, because he and his wife work at home. “In a congested city like São Paulo, time is money,” he says. “It’s a privilege to have a short commute, and a luxury to be able to work from home.” The Figueroas live and work on the 14th floor of a high-rise building fronted by a pool and palm trees and cordoned off from the street by a two-anda-half-meter steel fence with sharp spikes topped by four strands of electrified wire. Figueroa rings a bell, causing a surveillance camera to focus in on him. The outer gate of the complex then opens. The guard doesn’t open the inner gate until the outer one has completely closed behind the couple. The two of them went freelance a few months ago and established an architectural bureau with another partner and two employees. Figueroa’s former company, Estudio América, had 20 employees, and his work there provided him with opportunities to participate in prestigious projects like the Museum of Remembrance and Human Rights in Santiago de Chile. “However, Letícia and I like the freedom that comes with having our own small office,” Figueroa explains. Besides his work as an architect, Figueroa also teaches at Mackenzie Presbyterian University and Escola da Cidade. When the Figueroas enter their apartment, which at a little after 10 a.m. is now their office, they find their two colleagues Marcus Damon, 27, and Guilherme Bravin, 22, already sitting at a large black marble table with their laptops open. They’re working on a book that presents steel structures from around the world. Around and beneath them, São Paulo is vibrating. Occasionally the noise becomes a rolling thunder that makes conversation impossible. A helicopter flies over the building. “There are a lot of them here,” says Damon, without even looking up from his laptop. There are so many, in fact, that he no longer notices the noise made by their rotors. Traveling through the air is the easiest way to get from point A to point B in the megacity — if you can afford it. A one-hour flight costs between €580 and €3,900, depending on the size of the chopper. “It’s a booming business,” says Gabriel Mendonça, who used to work as a bank manager before he got his pilot’s license and joined the LRC air taxi company. “There weren’t enough helicopters in Brazil 15 years ago,” Mendonça says, “but now there aren’t enough pilots.” Some 500 helicopters fly around the city — more than in any other place in the world. It’s a record that reflects failure — capitulation to the traffic standstill down below. “The city has grown almost explosively, and that has led to problems,” Figueroa explains as he takes out a notebook and sketches the course of the Tietê and Pinheiros Rivers, putting a small triangle in between. This is where it all began in the mid-16th century, when Jesuit missionaries settled an area 70 kilometers inland from the Atlantic Ocean. Only 25,000 people were living there 300 years later, but by around 1900, at the height of the coffee boom, the population had grown to 250,000. Just 50 years after that, there were two-and-a-half million people in the city. With this type of growth, urban planning is a luxury São PauTECHNICITY.DAIMLER.COM

ECONOMIC OUTPUT

388,000,000,000

São Paulo is Latin America’s main economic center. According to a study that was published by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2009, São Paulo is the world’s tenth-richest city. With a gross domestic product of $388 billion, the São Paulo metropolitan area had a bigger economy in 2008 than countries such as Belgium or Switzerland. (Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers UK Economic Outlook)

Stock Market

São Paulo is home to Brazil’s only stock market: Bolsa de Valores, Mercadorias e Futuros de São Paulo (BM&F Bovespa). It is by far the biggest stock exchange in Latin America, accounting for 70 percent of the market. (Source: Kooperation International)

Life in SÃO PAULO Leisure Activities São Paulo has 12,500 restaurants, 152 theaters, 90 museums, 77 shopping centers, 55 movie theaters, 7 concert halls, 4 amusement parks, and one Formula One circuit. (Source: Cidade de São Paulo)

Quality of life As in the previous year, São Paulo took 92nd place in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s ranking of the world’s

2012

140 most livable big cities in 2012, in a tie with Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg. Among the reasons for the 2011

city’s modest performance are its catastrophic traffic situation and its high crime rate.

COST OF LIVING According to a study by the business consulting firm Mercer, São Paulo is the most expensive city in the Americas. The city ranks 12th worldwide, right above Rio de Janeiro. Major North American cities such as New York (33), Los Angeles (68), and Montréal (87) follow at a considerable distance. Tokyo has the highest cost of living of any city in the world. (Source: Mercer Cost of Living Report 2012)

Traffic and Population Density in São Paulo City highway system Railroad Bus Subway Commuter train Greater São Paulo

Brasilandia

Population density per km² > 15,000 10,000�14,999 5,000�9,999

SÃo paulo City

< 5,000

SÃo Paulo-Morumbi SÃo Mateus

SÃo Bernardo Do CAMPO Garajau

Rio pequeno

lagao do caneu

Brasìlia Rio de Janeiro SÃo Paulo

MOBILITY in SÃO PAULO lo cannot afford. “São Paulo already had more than one million inhabitants when the first Master Plan was drawn up,” says Figueroa. Today São Paulo is the biggest city in the Americas, with 11 million people living within the city limits. The São Paulo metropolitan area, which is five times bigger than Greater London, is home to 20 million people. The city is also a melting pot of cultures: São Paulo has twice as many people of Italian heritage as Rome and as many ethnic Spanish people as Madrid. More people with German roots live there than in Frankfurt. Figueroa was born in Chile. He came to Brazil at the age of nine, when his family fled from the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. Figueroa looks down from the balcony to a concrete panorama of hundreds of high-rises. Only in the north can one see anything else: a dark-blue mountain range, the Serra da Cantareira, which holds the world’s second-largest rainforest and is now a protected national park. “The settlers used to bring drinking water from there to São Paulo in jugs on mules,” says Figueroa. Right in front of the mountains, one can see the terraced silhouette of the Banespa skyscraper, which was completed in 1947 and whose height of 161 meters made it the city’s tallest building for almost two decades. Next to that is the S-shaped Copan building, which has 5,000 residents and is the largest apartment building in the world — it even has its own zip code. The Copan building was completed in 1966. It was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, who also planned Brazil’s capital, Brasília. Figueroa admires this grand designer of Brazilian architecture for his life’s work and his humor. Back in 2007, Figueroa published a collection of sketches made by famous Brazilian architects and Niemeyer submitted one to the project — a sketch of a naked woman lying down, with the curves Niemeyer loves so much. “It looks a lot better than any building,” Niemeyer, at that time almost one hundred years old, told his younger colleague. Figueroa had the picture framed in white and hung it in his office. It’s almost 1 p.m. when Figueroa and his colleagues head out for lunch. They’re lucky, because the taxi ride to the old city center only takes ten minutes today. The restaurant is on the northeastern end of Avenida 9 de Julho, a thoroughfare six kilometers long. This is where the Anhangabaúag River used to flow before it was built over. “When the first Master Plan was approved, the valleys were lined with concrete and the rivers were covered over,” Figueroa explains. This was a huge mistake, because when heavy rains come the roads are flooded and traffic is shut down completely. “There’s water in the streets every summer,” says Damon. “Instead of thinking about new subway lines, they should start thinking about submarines.” New subway lines have been a controversial issue in the city for decades. O Estado de S. Paulo, one of Brazil’s biggest dailies, published a sobering report in September 2012 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Metrô. The paper quoted experts who predicted back in 1972 that dozens of new subway lines would be built over the next 20 years. Today there are only five. São Paulo’s 78 kilometers of subway seem measly when compared to London, which has a 400-kilometer subway network. Jurandir Fernandes, State Secretary for Metropolitan Transport, is looking toward the future and promising rapid improvement. He points out that four lines are currently being built and that the city will break the 100-kilometer mark by 2014 and the 200-kilometer mark by 2020. Not all experts share this optimism, however. Figueroa buys a copy of the Lance! sports magazine at a newspaper stand on the way to “Caffè Giramondo,” which he claims has the best espresso in the city. He takes a look at the magazine and TECHNICITY.DAIMLER.COM

AIRPORTS São Paulo has Brazil’s two largest airports in terms of the number of passengers they serve. While Guarulhos International Airport recorded slightly more than 30 million passengers in 2011, Congonhas Airport, which is only used for domestic flights, had nearly 17 million. LOCAL PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION The city’s subway network is currently 78 kilometers long. It has five lines and a total of 64 stations. In addition, the city has a 260-kilometer-long commuter railroad system. (Sources: O Estado de S. Paulo; Governo do Estado de São Paulo)

SUBWAY

4,000,000 More than four million passengers ride São Paulo’s Metrô lines every day. The subways operate from 4:40 a.m. to as late as 1 o’clock at night. BUSEs AND TAXIS In addition to the approximately 15,000 buses operated by the metropolitan transport company SPTrans, São Paulo has 33,000 taxis. (Sources: SPTrans; Cidade de São Paulo)

ELECTRIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS Besides conventionally powered buses, the city also operates a number of electric trolleybuses. SPTrans has a fleet of about 190 trolleybuses that transport 110,000 passengers a day on 11 lines with a total of 200 kilometers of overhead contact wires. An additional fleet of 80 electric buses is operated by the EMTU transport company on the BRT route Corredor Metropolitano ABD. (Sources: trolley:motion; Empresa Metropolitana de Transportes Urbanos de São Paulo)

DISTRIBUTION OF TRANSPORT MODES Paulistanos make about oneCar

third (32.9%) of their trips on

On foot

foot. Private cars and taxis ac-

Bus

count for almost as many trips

Subway

(30.2%), while 37 percent of

Commuter

the trips are made using local

train

public transport (bus, subway, and commuter train).

(Source: South American Cities — Securing an Urban Future/Urban Age)

VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS More than 7 million vehicles crowd São Paulo’s streets. In July 2012, 5,283,095 cars, 952,692 motorcycles, 791,644 minibuses and vans, 153,012 trucks, and 43,742 buses were registered in the city. The number of cars alone is growing by nearly 10,000 a month. (Source: Governo do Estado de São Paulo)

Mobility map

Everyday Mobility Mario Figueroa drew this map showing his meticulously planned mobility behavior in São Paulo’s city center.

9:20 a.m.

10:15 a.m.

1:00 p.m.

1:55 p.m.

11:30 p.m.

A day in the megacity Mario Figueroa has chosen to live without a car. Instead, he meets his needs for everyday mobility by walking, using public transport, and taking taxis. Being able to work in your own home office is the height of luxury in gridlocked São Paulo.

TECHNICITY.DAIMLER.COM

his face lights up when he sees that his team, São Paulo F.C., has beaten the club from Botafogo by a score of 4:0. “Hello there, professor!” somebody calls from inside the narrow café, which opens out to the pedestrian zone. Aldo, the café’s owner, comes out and walks down the two steps to shake Mario Figueroa’s hand. He then places small glasses of mineral water on the counter to accompany the steaming cups of espresso. Figueroa and his colleagues grab a taxi at Republic Square to take them back to the office. Buses stop two blocks away in front of the Copan building every ten seconds. These are the 7228-10, 8700, 6690-10, 8705-10, and 7272-10 lines, all of which travel in their own special lanes as part of São Paulo’s Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT). The BRT fleet also includes Mercedes-Benz buses that are very reliable, thanks to periodic service support from Daimler. The dedicated BRT routes, which are called corredores, are still relatively scattered across the city and often consist of only one lane. Some of the routes are served by electric trolleybuses, of which there are around 300 in the city. This electric bus technology could actually save São Paulo a lot of time — not to mention a huge amount of emissions, as there are more than 15,000 buses in operation in the city, transporting around two million people every day. Silvana Zioni, a professor of urban planning at the Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC), is a harsh critic of São Paulo’s bus system. “It’s impressively big,” she says, “but also impressively inefficient.” She points out that many minor solutions have been implemented, but there’s no overall integrated concept. Moreover, the inner-city bus system isn’t aligned with those of the outlying districts. “A subway network will only go so far in an uncontrollably expanding megacity like São Paulo,” Zioni concludes. A clever Bus Rapid Transit System could be more effective here, and if proper measures were consistently taken, positive results could be achieved relatively quickly. Zioni isn’t very optimistic about this, however. After all, the chaotic urban transport infrastructure merely reflects the political confusion in the city. It’s late in the afternoon and Mario Figueroa looks up from his desk. A yellow-gray veil of smog covers the city skyline. A helicopter occasionally appears out of the cloud. Figueroa agrees with Zioni’s opinion that the politicians are not doing enough in São Paulo, but he also believes there’s another problem: “Mobility is becoming more affordable. On the other hand, it’s getting more crowded on the streets and in the subway and commuter rail systems. The train cars are so packed at certain times during the day that you feel you’re being crushed. Luckily, Brazilians don’t mind body contact.” Figueroa generally uses the subway only on weekends, when there are fewer commuters and the passengers are even allowed to take along bicycles. Tomorrow he plans to take the subway to the city center. His route will start at the Santa Cecília station, where he will ride Line 3 for three stops to Sé, a station that now has automated book-selling machines. At Sé he will switch to Line 1 and get off at São Bento. He will go on this subway excursion to buy drawing pencils at his favorite stationery store and then head over to a restaurant to enjoy a meal of feijoada — hearty black bean stew with pigs’ ears, served with rice. This is Brazil’s national dish, and it’s a staple at restaurants on Saturdays. “You can’t eat it during the week because you’ll be so stuffed that you won’t be able to go back to work,” Figueroa explains. He won’t be taking the subway for his Sunday excursion to Parque Ibirapuera, however. This park, the biggest green area in the city, is centrally located, but for some reason the subway lines circumvent it as though it were a strange foreign body in the sea of high-rises. 48

TRAFFIC JAMS 293 km São Paulo is considered to have the world’s worst traffic gridlock. In May 2012 a subway and commuter train drivers’ strike caused a total of 250 kilometers of traffic jams. The longest traffic jam to date occurred during an afternoon rush hour in June 2009: 293 km. (Source: Reuters)

AIR TAXIS One odd consequence of the megacity’s mega-traffic jams is that around 500 helicopters make more than 70,000 flights there every year. As a result, the air space above São Paulo is the most crowded in the world, surpassing even that of Tokyo and New York. (Sources: Cidade de São Paulo; Emporis)

»A subway network will only go so far in an uncontrollably expanding megacity like São Paulo.« Silvana Maria ZIONI, Professor of Urban Planning, Universidade Federal do ABC WASTED TIME AND ENERGY

20,000,000,000

São Paulo’s inadequate local public transport system is very costly for the economy. In 2008, traffic jams led to wasted time and energy worth an estimated $20 billion. (Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit)

BELTWAY The government is currently building a 176-kilometer bypass road with six to eight lanes in order to link together the ten most important state highways in the São Paulo region and thus significantly reduce through traffic within the city. The construction of the beltway is expected to cost R$5 billion. (Source: Governo do Estado de São Paulo)

DRIVING BAN A temporary driving ban is in force in São Paulo for cars with certain license plate numbers. Cars whose license plate numbers end with a 1 or a 2 may not be driven in rush hour traffic (7–10 a.m. and 5 –8 p.m.) on Mondays. On other days the ban applies to cars with license plate numbers ending with the following digits: 3 and 4 (Tuesdays), 5 and 6 (Wednesdays), 7 and 8 (Thursdays), and 9 and 0 (Fridays).

At 6:15 p.m. Figueroa puts on a thin jacket and grabs a black backpack. He walks a couple of blocks to a bookstore, where a panel discussion on socially compatible housing construction is to be held. It’s already getting dark and the palm tree in front of his building is shimmering bright green in the halogen spotlights. Figueroa walks up the steep street and passes under a highway bridge that looks like a concrete shadow. Neither the beginning nor the end of the bridge can be seen — it seems to have no end at all. Minhocão (“Giant Earthworm”) is what locals call the three-anda-half-kilometer, four-lane elevated highway whose official name is Via Elevada Presidente Artur da Costa e Silva. Each day, some 80,000 cars pass right by the apartment windows along the road, which runs parallel to the third floor of the buildings. Vehicle traffic is prohibited on the viaduct at night, on Sundays, and on holidays. The Minhocão then belongs exclusively to pedestrians and cyclists. The owner of the bookstore, a middle-aged man with delicate glasses and a stiff collar, opens the discussion at 7:15 p.m. Besides Figueroa, there are a few urban planners and a mayoral candidate in the audience. Not surprisingly, sustainable mobility is one of the candidate’s main campaign issues. Discussions usually are made lively by the clash of differing opinions, but this evening is marked by a kind of defeatist consensus, as everyone agrees that the city has been asleep in terms of urban planning. It also seems as if São Paulo will continue to grow without any real plan in place. The debate has to be interrupted several times because young people drive by with music blaring from their stereo speakers. It’s just before 10 p.m. when Figueroa steps out of the bookstore and back into the untamable city. The opposite sidewalk is full of tables and chairs; there’s no way to get through it. Dozens of young people are sitting around, drinking, talking, and laughing under the streetlights. The bars are full and the streets are emptying. “To put things in simple terms, life is all about laughing and crying. We need to enjoy the light moments as long as we’re able to,” is what Oscar Niemeyer, Figueroa’s famous architect colleague, once said. Mario Figueroa takes a seat in one of the bars and orders a beer. His working week is almost over. He’s got a project meeting scheduled tomorrow morning with architecture students at Mackenzie Presbyterian University. After that, he’ll head into town to buy drawing pencils. And then it will be time for feijoada — the perfect meal to start the weekend.

SÃO PAULO innovation region A CENTER OF TECHNOLOGY The São Paulo metropolitan area is the center of Brazil’s automotive industry, aerospace industry, biotechnology and life sciences business, information and communications technology industry, and financial sector. The automotive industry is mainly based in what is known as the “ABC region” of the southern metropolitan area, which encompasses the cities of Santo André, São Bernardo do Campo, and São Caetano do Sul. (Source: Kooperation International)

University With over 86,000 students and around 15,000 employees, the renowned São Paulo University is the largest university in Brazil and the second-largest in all of Latin America. In 2012 the university was rated Latin America’s best educational institution. (Source: Times Higher Education)

MERCEDES-BENZ IN BRAZIL MERCEDES-BENZ DO BRASIL

Mercedes-Benz do Brasil is the biggest commercial vehicle manufacturer in Latin America. With around 7,000 new vehicle registrations in the first half of 2012, Daimler clearly defended its leadership of Brazil’s bus market. Daimler controls around 50 percent of the market for urban and intercity buses weighing over 8 tons.

HYPERLINK

»The sector is booming. Before, there weren’t enough helicopters in Brazil. But now there aren’t enough pilots.«

Further information related to this article: daimler-technicity.DE/EN/SAO-PAULO

Gabriel MENDONÇA, helicopter taxi pilot in São Paulo • INTERVIEWS SÃO BERNARDO DO CAMPO

(1) with Paulo Sergio CUSTODIO, a globally operating advisor for urban and regional mobility as well as an expert on Bus Rapid

Daimler’s plant in São Bernardo do

Transit.

Campo is its biggest outside of Germany and the only one where

(2) with Silvana Maria ZIONI, Professor of Urban Planning at

trucks, bus chassis, powertrains — in-

Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). (3) with Gabriel MENDONÇA, a helicopter taxi pilot in São Paulo.

cluding engines, transmissions, and

• PHOTO GALLERY Living, working, and traveling in São Paulo.

axles — and truck cabs are produced

• BACKGROUND The Mercedes-Benz Bus Rapid Transit website.

at a single location.

TECHNICITY.DAIMLER.COM

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You ca n find a dditiona l a rticles a nd infor m ation online at: technicity.daimler.com

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Geetam TIWARI, professor of transport planning at the Indian Institute of Technology (IITD) in Delhi, talks about the challenges emerging countries such as India face when it comes to transport planning and safety. daimler-technicity.de/en/tiwari

VIDEO

PUBLISHER Daimler AG, Communications, HPC E402, 70546, Stuttgart, Germany For the publisher: Thomas Fröhlich Mirjam Bendak Publications manager: Dr. Josef Ernst EDITING AND DESIGN Editorial board, Daimler AG: Sandra Wagner, Dora Constantinita (Online) Creative director: Wolfram Schäffer Project management: Susanne Wacker Editor-in-chief: Matthias Straub Online editor: Kai-Holger Eisele Editor: Lisa Hüttinger Authors: Rüdiger Abele, Martin Fritz, Steffan Heuer, Peter Thomas, Markus Wanzeck, Jochen Wittmann Proofreader: Andrew Leslie Art director: Helmut Kirsten Layout: Rainer Beihofer, Simone Czernia, Sonja Fischer Photography/illustrations: Rafael Dabul, Rafael Krötz, Iassen Markov Translation: TransForm GmbH, Cologne, Germany SALES Daimler AG: Uwe Haspel Sales: Zenit Pressevertrieb GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany PRODUCTION Reprographics: Dr. Cantz’sche Druckerei Medien GmbH, Ostfildern/Kemnat, Germany Printing: Bechtle, Graphische Betriebe und Verlagsgesellschaft GmbH & Co. KG, Esslingen, Germany CONTACT AND READER SERVICE Zenit Pressevertrieb GmbH, Postfach 81 05 80, 70522 Stuttgart, Germany Tel.: +49 711 7252-268 Fax: +49 711 7252-399 e-mail: readerservice@daimler-technicity.com Online: www.zenit-presse.de Daimler AG, Communications, HPC E402, 70546 Stuttgart, Germany Fax: +49 711 17-790-95251 e-mail: contact@daimler-technicity.com Online: www.technicity.daimler.com/contact

The designers at Mercedes-Benz present an artistic vision of tomorrow’s luxury sedan designs in the form of the bas-relief sculpture Aesthetics S. daimler-technicity.de/en/aesthetics-s-class

PHOTO GALLERY

PICTURE CREDITS P. 5/35 Robin MacDougall/Getty Images P. 19 Yoshikazu Tsuno/Getty Images; LIFX P. 21 Mauricio Estrella/iconpaper.org; IFW Dresden P. 22 Pete Atkinson/Getty Images P. 23 Diana Tyszko; Harald Walker/Getty Images P. 30 Bas Bogers P. 32 John Elk/Getty Images; Thomas Winz/Getty Images; Panoramic Images/Getty Images P. 33 Guido Krawczyk/Getty Images P. 34 iStockphoto; Bloomberg/Getty Images; Underground logo ® Transport for London P. 36 Erich Häfele/Getty Images; Martin Moos/Getty Images; Jorg Greuel/Getty Images P. 38 Dmitry Mordvintsev/Getty Images; Lars Rücker/Getty Images; Emily Riddell/Getty Images P. 43 Sao Paulo Stock Exchange P. 50 Suzanne Lee Copyright Reproduction and use, including excerpts, only with the express written authorization of Daimler AG. No liability will be accepted for unsolicited submissions of texts and/or images. Reports with bylines do not necessarily represent the opinion of the publisher or the editorial team. No liability is assumed in respect of information regarding appointments and equipment. Binding information and prices are contained in the respectively valid official sales information from Daimler AG. All other information in this publication is also provided to the best of our knowledge and belief, but without any liability. TECHNICITY appears twice a year in German and English editions. Number 1, Year 3, 2012 ISSN: 2190-0523

Life and mobility in one of the world’s greatest conurbations: A photographic journey through the Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo — between chaotic traffic situations and green oases. daimler-technicity.de/en/sao-paulo

PROJECTOR MOBILITy UTOPI a 2060

MAGLEV MONORAIL with small, four-seater gondolas for comfortable and rapid individual transport.

WIND TURBINES generate energy from the airstream of the vehicles driving by.

DRIVERLESS BUS Computer-controlled SOLAR FACADES autonomously provide their buildings with energy thanks to a

fuel cell bus, guided along a dedicated line by magnets.

thinly applied coating of nanoparticles.

KINETIC SIDEWALKS function like a dynamo. As a result, it is possible to transform the energy from thousands of footsteps into

U-PARK underground, vertical, and

electricity for street lighting.

automated parking shafts for cars offer the maximum saving of surface space.

UNDERGROUND VACUUM TRAINS reduce air resistance — and thus energy consumption — dramatically.

TECHNICITY Magazine FOR Innovation TechnologY MOBILITY

A Daimler publication ÂŠ Stuttgart 2012